October 16th, 2012
New to our Fifty Days of Fifty Shades event? You can learn more about it and our giveaway here!
The third section of Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey that we’ll be sharing quotes with you from is all about sex in the series. We’ll update this post on October 22 with quotes from the seven essays from the sex section. You can also catch the quotes daily on our Tumblr and Fifty Writers Facebook page.
Learn more about the third giveaway:
Until midnight CST on October 22, you can enter right here to win one of seven copies of Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey, the third batch of the fifty copies we’re giving away between now and November 20!
To enter, tell us in the comments below whether or not you think Ana made the right decision when she became intimate with Mr. Grey (undecided is also an option!). U.S. and Canadian entries only, please.
Good luck!
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Sex Quotes
“Mostly, though, I like to think that Ana doesn’t talk about what she does with Christian, or, more to the point, what Christian does to her, because she likes having a secret. Yes, my boyfriend is a Dominant—and I think I like being his submissive. Not exactly a line heard at most dinner parties. If it is, chances are good that the ante will soon need to be upped, because pleasures that come easily and become commonplace also get dull fast. —Suzan Colon, “Forbidden Fruit Is the Sweetest”
“I can’t imagine why any woman would want to be with this man. He is handsome, rich, and well endowed. But that’s where it ends. He is selfish, a stalker, possessive, and controlling…He has a temper, mood swings, and doesn’t want to be touched. He doesn’t make love, withholds affection, and doesn’t want to cuddle after sex or spend the night. He is simply emotionally abusive. Who would put up with that?” —Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, “Fifty Ways of Looking at Sex in Fifty Shades”
“E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy is a by-product of feminism and women’s equality. It’s porn for women, and that’s why it’s so popular. Porn and its softer cousin, erotic romance, are like the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s. They’re addictive, and what satisfies a craving one day just won’t cut it the next. If you buy a hamburger today, then tomorrow you’ll need a double bacon cheeseburger with large fries and a super-sized Coke.” —Lois Gresh, “The McDonald’s of Lust”
“The student/teacher relationship is one that has appeared in art from time immemorial (paging Socrates!), but in pitting Ana as a finals-studying coed against the willful, dangerous, punitive power of business magnate Christian Grey, James makes explicit the steamy pedagogy that piques the fantasies of many a fledgling academic, while avoiding the creep factor that would define a similar relationship written about a high school student and educator. After all, college is the real sexual awakening for many people.” —Rakesh Satyal, “Crash Is in Session”
“To me, Christian Grey’s proclivities for using rope, the flogger, or the riding crop simply express the desire to experience and provide intense sensation. The point of BDSM play is that you can experiment with sensations of pain and pleasure, and the roles of dominance and submission, without really hurting yourself or others.” —Selina Fire, “Sexual Empowerment at the Water Cooler”
“In the past few decades the role of women in our culture has changed more drastically than in centuries before. Or let me say—the roles we show to the world have changed. Have our basic needs and desires changed on a purely carnal level? Probably not. Women with sexual prowess existed as far back as the days we lived in caves, but until relatively recently we didn’t accept the idea of the wicked, wanton female as every man’s wife.” —Heather Graham, “Fifty Shades of Woman”
“Enter Fifty Shades of Grey, sold in a pretty package or dressed in the anonymity of e-book, validated by the tacit media approval and thus accessible to this group of women. This book has brought notion of sex toys, whips, bondage, and erotic roleplay into mainstream discourse. Those who already practice toy-filled and kinky sex should be thrilled. But they’re not. Far from it.” —Midori, “Fifty Shades of Snark”
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at 10:24 am
Ana was a complete idiot. Grey is a sociopath… he manipulated her, his moods were volatile… She had zero self esteem to “become intimate” with that nutjob.
And why did I read it if I feel this way? So I could speak about it and know what I was talking about!
at 10:28 am
Clearly, she made a terrible decision. Ugh.
at 10:30 am
The first book was interesting–there were some parallels to how i entered the life.
at 11:14 am
Undecided. She did need to experience “vanilla” before she agreed to anything further, however she went in thinking that since he was offering vanilla he could do with only that, even though he had a freakin contract ready stating otherwise. so it wasn’t the smartest decision she could have made
at 11:55 am
I think Ana made a mighty poor decision. She knew he didn’t want a regular relationship. She knew he was into D/s. There was a contract prepped detailing exactly what he wanted. He treated her virginity like it was a disease.
And still she went to bed with him.
What the hell is wrong with her? They want two totally different things. This wasn’t a drunken hookup after a party, where the two parties realize in the morning they’re not compatible because he wants her tied up and she doesn’t want that. She went into this knowing everything, and decided she could change him, so he’d like vanilla sex and give up the contract.
After having 15 subs, I don’t think he’s going to change anything.
at 1:19 pm
I think it was the wrong decision for her to interview Mr. Grey, let alone become intimate with him. It really wasn’t ever her decision – she’s fully manipulated into everything she “decides”.
at 2:18 pm
I feel like it probably wasn’t the smartest decision she could have made. Being a virgin, and having hardly even kissed a guy (if I remember correctly), it was asking quite a lot of her to be able to agree to a contract such as he had written up. I don’t really mean to say that a virgin can’t have any idea what they might be into sexually, but it does help to have at least experienced some things before you make a commitment like Christian was requiring.
at 3:10 pm
Ana most decidedly did not make a good decision. She was manipulated from the beginning — and the excerpt of the interview scene from Christian’s point of view confirms this — into making a decision that she was not equipped to make.
at 3:35 pm
I think she made the right decision. She was a willing participant entering an intimate relationship. She was presented with all the facts, and chose to enter it anyway. In the end, she landed up with the perfect person for her.
at 9:28 pm
H to the ELL no! Why oh why would you become intimate with a person who scares you. Yikes!
at 1:54 pm
I think Ana did make the right choice. Yeah, Christian has a lot of problems, but she is there for him and willing to help him. After they start their family, you can really tell that things are going great for them. I really do think they are a perfect match.
at 10:48 am
I don’t know that there’s a moral imperative to the decision (i.e., that it’s “right” or “wrong”) to become intimate with another consenting adult. However, I think she made a pretty poorly informed choice, because she lacked an understanding of her own desires and also seemed to lack an appreciation for what Grey wanted from the relationship.
at 3:43 pm
Undecided.
I’ve not read the books. I have them, on a bookshelf and am patiently waiting for my girlfriend to read them so that I can get her opinion on the writing before wading in on the matter.
at 10:55 pm
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